|
United Church of Paducah
4600 Buckner Lane
Paducah, KY 42001
(270) 442-3722
Worship Times
Sunday Service: 10:00a
Refreshments &
Fellowship: 11:15a
Christian Education
For All Ages:
11:20a - Noon
Nursery Services Provided Handicap Accessible
All Are Welcome!
A Congregation Of The
 |
From December 9, 2007
Sprouts and Shouts
Isaiah 11:1-10; Matthew 3: 1-12
In just a few short weeks, we will come in
from the cold to celebrate Christ's birth. By candles' glow,
we will retrace the story of God's promise of a savior.
Something happens in that sacred hour that defies
description, doesn't it? Whatever had hold of us earlier in
the month, earlier in the day even, whatever that was will
fall away in the dim light and in its place a gift will be
given.
Something will find its way to us so gradually that we may
not know it has entered our lives until the last. "Silent
night, holy night" we will sing as we receive--then
share--Christ's light. As the light from our candles grows
to fill the darkness, we will sense the night's gift and
know it is ours.
The moment will come to snuff out our candles and bundle
back up again. And yet the gift will remain. We'll step back
out into the cold night and there it will be, waiting for
us, beckoning us: peace. Christ's deep peace. A peace that
will enfold us and hold us and enable us, if but for a
moment or two, to experience the world as Eden, as God
created it, as God wills it, the world into which we are
invited once more. "All is calm, all is bright."
Peace. Our word isn't nearly big enough to describe what
God's presence imparts. Our Hebrew forebears used a word
with far more dimension and richness; they spoke of shalom.
Shalom is completeness, soundness, wholeness. But it's so
much more than that. It's a wholeness that so saturates us
that the oft-chosen options of conflict and war seem both
primitive and pointless.
Shalom is all this and more. It is friendship, contentment,
security, health, prosperity, abundance, tranquility,
harmony, and even salvation. This shalom, this peace, is not
the fruit of human striving, governmental proclamation, or
judicial pronouncement. It comes, our faith tells us, as a
gift from God.
And it's not shalom, not really, until each person
experiences it. Shalom is not shalom until it takes up
residence inside us, until it grounds each relationship, and
is the shared reality of neighborhoods, nations, as well as
the prevailing dynamic between God and humanity.
Lest we think of it as feeling alone, this peace, this
shalom is intimately tied to justice, because its existence
is founded on wrongs having been made right.
On this second Sunday in Advent, we remember that the one we
so eagerly await will be a bringer of peace, a bestower of
shalom. Better said: he will be peace. Said even better
still: he will be our peace, our shalom. For even as he
comes to dwell among us, his desire and destiny is to dwell
within us.
Long before the birth of our Prince of Peace, the prophet
Isaiah painted with words a picture of the peaceable kingdom
of creation restored. A day awaits, Isaiah proclaims, when
predators curl up next to their prey, no longer foes but at
last friends. A day awaits when those who are by nature
vulnerable have no reason to live in fear. A day awaits when
oppressors crave nothing more than the pure joy of equality
with others. Through Isaiah, God promises a day when people
will not only tolerate differences but will have appetites
for exploring the tastes of those least like them.
How does God's promise of shalom come to us? Our two
prophets today agree on one thing: this peace is God's
doing, not ours.
Isaiah's vision of how this comes to pass is by far the
gentler of the two messages we are given today. Isaiah looks
to God's future and sees rising out of King David's lineage
a new and precious shoot, one growing up out of a dynasty
cut down to the ground, a leader whose coming rule will be
Spirit-blessed and rooted in utmost care for all, not some.
On the other hand, John the Baptizer's vision hardly
qualifies as gentle or gradual; it is aflame with passionate
insistence. "I baptize you with water for repentance, but
one who is more powerful than I is coming after meHe will
baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing
fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor
and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he
will burn with unquenchable fire."
Although both prophets speak to the ultimacy of God's peace,
their visions differ considerably.
Rather than feel we must choose sides: we'll either have
peace that rises up like Isaiah's growing shoot or the kind
heralded by John's growling shouts, Advent calls us to honor
how and when both are true. Advent calls us to notice God's
peace coming into our lives as imperceptibly as a new sprout
springs from an old stump and also in ways that could be
described as bold or brash.
It was hard not to think of John the Baptizer recently when
media reports revealed that in spite of what we have been
led to believe, Iran has not been ramping up its efforts to
build nuclear weapons. This story burst onto the scene as
boldly and unexpectedly as the Baptizer crashing out of the
wilderness, hair and eyes wild. Iran may not be the most
evil among us, the most devious and deceitful after all. How
we needed this news and the fiery challenge it implies; we
must repent of our tendency to project onto others, onto
nations and their leaders, our worst fears.
Advent invites us to listen for the prophet's shouts, to
look out onto the world around us to see God's bold moves
toward peace, shalom.
Perhaps you are aware that in the middle of November our
modest-sized denomination began calling to raise by January
6th $100,000 to help serve the needs of Iraqis displaced by
war.
This plus 100,000 prayers and letters for US military
personnel. As well as 100,000 calls, letters, and visits to
elected officials in Washington.
Surely the fiery Spirit that prompted John's shouts can fuel
in us a similar willingness to partner with God for peace.
And yet God is just as likely to fulfill the promise of
peace in small ways. Just as we look for the big and the
bold, Advent also is our time to take note of tiny or
seemingly insignificant signs of God's coming kingdom of
shalom, which Christ means to usher in.
In his book Asphalt Jesus, Eric Elnes (a UCC pastor from
Arizona) tells of being called to walk with like-minded
Christians from Phoenix to Washington, DC so that along the
way they might engage others in conversation about what it
means to be progressive believers in an age of increasing
religious fundamentalism. Although certain this journey was
God-willed, Elnes was rightfully concerned about the
antipathy he and his group might stir up.
Even before the good pastor and his companions launched
their cross-country faith walk, Elnes found himself on the
receiving end of a sucker punch. When he was invited to be
the featured guest on a hugely popular radio program, Elnes
was assured by his Christian host that this would be a
"friendly interview." Instead, as soon as the "on air" light
flashed, his host took every opportunity to belittle and
berate his guest's beliefs.
Not exactly a very peaceable or encouraging way to begin a
journey. Having been blind-sided so soon and so close to
home, Elnes lowered his expectations and moved on.
Passing through a corner of his home state known for its
religious conservatism, Rev. Elnes recognized the huge risk
he was taking by going to worship in a church that gave
every indication of being profoundly fundamentalist. Indeed,
his journey-mates warned him that he might actually wind up
in a fight. Yet it was a risk Elnes felt led to take.
Because the group had called ahead, the pastor met Elnes and
his walking companions at the door. After introducing them
to members of a Bible study class, the pastor retreated to
his office to study the materials detailing the group's
faith stance, which included a number of controversial
points. Elnes felt sure that once the pastor saw what they
believed, he would promptly show them the door. Maybe worse.
In the meantime, Elnes and friends stayed on for the Bible
study. On every point, the leader's perspective was opposite
that of his guests. As Elnes noted this, he surprised
himself by realizing that in spite of this, he really liked
this fellow. "I don't believe any of your answers," Elnes
noted silently, "but I do believe what your heart is trying
to convey." (Asphalt Jesus, p. 43).
This little moment in time, one that would be lost to us had
Elnes not included it in his book, this moment is like that
tiny shoot God promises Israel, out of which rises the
promise of a peaceable kingdom in which, as Isaiah said
would happen, two creatures who normally feast on thoroughly
different fare find themselves in relationship, not only
able but willing to dine together.
It happened again, this manifestation of the peaceable
kingdom. In worship, the pastor mentioned his guests and
their theological stance a number of times, not to deride
but to affirm. "These people are not the enemy," Elnes told
himself, amazed. "We may disagree on some critical issues,
but they themselves are not the enemy."
And if those two moments weren't enough, it happened again.
A third time God's shalom caught Elnes by complete surprise.
Here is how he describes it: "At the end of his sermon,
Pastor Rhodes paused. He cocked his head to the side, put
his hand on his heart, choked up a bit, and announced,
'Friends, I feel the Holy Spirit upon me. I feel that the
Holy Spirit is telling me that we need to take up a love
offering for these CrossWalk America folks. I tell you what.
Can we pass the offering plates right now to help them on
their walk? And if we don't make, say, two hundred and fifty
dollars, would anyone mind if we take it out of the church
treasury?" (Aspalt Jesus, p. 45).
The peaceable kingdom? We don't know when it will come in
full. Or how, exactly. But sure as shootin' you can bet on
this: like the sprout on the side of the stump, like the
fire in John the Baptizer's eyes, the peace upon which God's
kingdom is founded won't just happen to us. It will happen
through us.
This is why in Advent we prepare for Christ's coming. Even
as we look for signs of peace around us, we know that for
peace to take root, to come alive, it needs a place to take
hold. And that place is here, in our aching, waiting,
willing hearts. Amen.
© Rev. Karen Winkel
United Church of Paducah (UCC) I am indebted
to Johann Christoph Arnold for his compelling description of
shalom found in Seeking Peace: Notes and Conversations
along the Way. Some of the words I have used here are
his.
Anyone interested in learning more about the tenets of the
progressive Christianity that Rev. Elnes and his companions
sought to share can find them beautifully summed up in
The Phoenix Affirmations. |
"Never place a period where God has placed a comma." - Gracie
Allen
Check the Announcements and
Calendar pages to
keep up to date on current church news and events.
Please join us for a special viewing of
Paper Clips
on May 4th at 12 noon.
|
